IS ‘information minister’ killed by airstrike in Syria: Pentagon

Pentagon: A senior Islamic State leader who, as the extreme group’s “minister of information,” oversaw the group’s production of torture and execution videos, has been killed in an airstrike in Syria, Pentagon said on Friday.

“On September 7, coalition forces conducted a precision strike near Raqqah, Syria, that targeted and killed ‘Wa’il,’ also known as Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, one of IS’s most senior leaders,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

“He operated as the minister of information for the terror organization and was a prominent member of its Senior Shura Council — IS’s leadership group,” Cook said.

Wa’il was killed by a drone targeting his home in al-Raqqah, IS’s de facto capital in Syria, according to an ABC news report, citing an anonymous US official as source.

The confirmed death of “Wa’il” is the second strike in the past two weeks targeting a senior ISIS leader involved in IS’s media operation. Earlier this week, Pentagon confirmed that the group’s spokesman al-Adnani was killed by an airstrike on August 30 as he rode in a vehicle near the Syrian town of al-Bab.